论科举考试的社会经济限制

The Imperial Examination’s Socioeconomic Restrictions on Its Examinees

相较于前科举时代的选才方式,科举考试已具有相当程度的开放性,在形式上也具有平等之精神。尽管如此,它并没有也不可能向所有社会成员提供平等的机会。在科举考试竞争的调节中,财富、权力和家庭背景等这些考试之外的诸因素仍起着重要作用。由于科举考试的制度设计和客观条件的限制,尽管普通平民子弟有着相当广泛的读书和较低层次的应试机会,但往往止步于乡试,想要问鼎举业,实非易事。科举考试并非实行自由竞争主义,而是一种定额制度下的有限竞争,须具备相当程度的经济基础。科举考试成功者往往具备一定的经济基础与闲暇时间。实际上,科举考试有着相当高的经济门槛,并非想象中的那样亲民。

Compared with the way of selecting talents in the pre-imperial-examination era, the imperial examination had a considerable degree of openness and the spirit of equality in its form. However, it did not and could not provide equal opportunities to all members of society. In the regulation of competitions in the imperial examination, such external factors as wealth, power and family background, etc. still played an important role. Due to the systems design of the imperial examination and the restrictions of objective conditions, children of ordinary families often stopped at the provincial examination although they had ample opportunities to read books and take lower level examinations. It was not easy for them to take high level examinations. The imperial examination was not a free competition, but a competition for limited resources in a quota system which required a substantial economic foundation. Those who succeeded in the imperial examinations often had quite some financial ability and leisure time. In fact, the imperial examination had a rather high economic threshold, and therefore was not so accessible as imagined by some.